Probably colloquial, i. e., informal or spoken, though. Either that or a sentence fragment according to what little I could find in my ancient Prentice Hall Handbook for Writers. Where's Mr. Carney or Dr. Offutt when you need them?

Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." -- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

Garzo wrote:Called implied subject. Is used all the time. Use it all the time. Quite handy really. Most often seen on postcards: "Wish you were here". Wouldn't worry about it. S'long's context giving necessary.

--?

Thinking back, probably a holdover from Latin:

Cogito ergo sum as opposed to Ego te absolve a peccatis tuis.

Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." -- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

Subjectless clauses are a feature of Romance languages (expect French) and most Slavic languages as well. Maybe subjects are really only necessary in Germanic languages, I don't know. I'd have to investigate further.

Larry, would it be reasonable to say, from an «identity» perspective, that an identity as a «devout Catholic» or devout follower of any other religion, for that matter, is both religious and cultural, whereas that of a «lapsed» follower is mainly cutural ? I don't intend this as a question about your personal beliefs, but rather a more general one, based upon my own interest in and understanding of «identity» questions....